It has been known for many years to provide a golf ball with a plurality of dimples on the surface thereof in order to optimize the aerodynamic properties of the ball. In general, a ball without dimples would experience little or no lift forces in flight, while experiencing a very high drag force. By dimpling the surface the golf ball, not only is the drag force on an in-flight ball decreased, but a lifting force is also created.
Thus, while materials and construction of balls may change, all balls manufactured in the world today carry the familiar trend of an organized dimple pattern. These organized patterns are laid out on the ball so that air flow over the ball will be consistent regardless of the orientation of the ball upon impact. Generally, the dimples are laid out in different geodesic patterns such as icosahedrons (U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,716), octahedrons (U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,111), dodecahedrons (U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,529), icosadodecahedron (U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,567), cuboctahedron (U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,326), etc.
Through aerodynamic research on golf balls and the effects of varied dimple patterns, it has been determined that lift and drag forces are somewhat coupled. That is to say, any alteration of the lift force will produce some alteration in the drag force, and vice versa. Because of this direct relationship between lift and drag, the lift-to-drag ratio is essentially a compromise between the two aerodynamic forces to produce the best possible flight trajectory under the given design constraint. This compromise is necessitated by the inability of the designer to effectively decouple the lift and drag components of the aerodynamic force vector on a golf ball in flight.
Thus, there remains a long-felt need in the art for a golf ball design which allows greater flexibility in the aesthetic and aerodynamic characteristics of the ball than currently possible with conventional dimple patterns.